Mommy's Not Here
by the-singular-peep
Summary: So much has happened in the past few weeks, the Baudelaires are just happy to sleep under Mr.Poe's uncomfortable roof another night. But babies cry - its normal and unavoidable - and someone has to be the shoulder to cry on. It would be easier if /they/ weren't gone. [BOOK OR SHOW VERSE. SET AFTER THE BAD BEGINNING. SIBLING BONDING. ONE-SHOT. COMPLETE.]


They were safe.

The wedding had failed, Sunny had been rescued, and they were together.

They were safe.

But then again, Olaf was free. His troupe was still out there, and he wanted their fortune, and he knew where they were.

So maybe they weren't safe, but they were still together.

Violet and Klaus, squished together on the single bed in the room with Edgar and Albert, kept telling themselves that.

"I'm so glad you didn't have to get married." Klaus said at ten PM, staring up at the ceiling and fighting off sleep.

"I am, too. I'm glad he didn't hurt you" Violet said, reaching over and squeezing her little brother's hand.

"Shut up," Said Edgar.

When he spoke again, Klaus whispered. "Me too. I'm glad Sunny's okay."

He felt Violet nod, and could tell she was drifting off. For the first time in weeks, they felt relatively okay - at least okay enough to sleep - and weeks without a good rest were catching up to them. Klaus glanced to Sunny, who was lying on a pillow and surrounded by taller cushions so she could not roll down the stairs in her sleep, and saw that she was already dead to the world, and so he decided to get some rest himself.

He dreamed many dreams that night, as he hadn't dreamed properly in quite some time and his brain had many pent up ideas. First he was driving a car, and was in the passenger seat, and somehow he knew that they were on a date. Mr. Poe leaned in to kiss him, and Klaus shouted, swerving the car off of the road and crashing straight into a grocery store. Once the wall was in shambles and the car was smoking, Mr. Poe hopped out - except now he wasn't at all, he was Violet - and she walked over to the produce and said, "Why, Klaus, we're out of lettuce!"

And then he was in an orphanage, swinging on a large swing attached to a tree in the front yard. The swing swung up and around, and then he fell, landing right in the upstairs attic of the orphanage. How he didn't break the ceiling, he did not know, but he stood and dusted himself off, and started towards the stairs. Once out of the attic, he smelled smoke - and saw a door flaming. People were screaming, and Klaus instantly thought he knew what this dream was about - but then a door opened to reveal a wall of fire, and in the middle of the fire sat Sunny, completely unharmed and looking quite confused. And then she spoke, saying "got any fives?" and then they were sitting at a table, and it wasn't Sunny who had asked him - it was his mother.

"Go fish," Violet said from the other side of him, and Klaus turned to see his older sister, a little bit younger than she was now, holding a deck of cards. His mother scowled playfully and reached to grab another card from the deck, but she stopped mid reach. She winced.

Klaus knew this dream. In fact, it wasn't a dream at all - it was a memory. A memory that had scared him so much when it happened. A memory that he hadn't thought of in so long. He was remembering when Sunny was born.

"Bertrand!" His mother screamed, and she was sweating and lying down in the back of the car. Violet was petting her mother's hair and crying, and Klaus was in the front with his father. Something was wrong; Klaus could tell it from the look in his father's eyes. Something was terribly wrong.

The next thing Klaus remembered was blood - so much blood, and so much screaming, and so many tears. He and Violet had to sit outside the room after that, and Violet held him while they cried. Neither of them understood much about what was going on, and their parents hadn't had the chance to tell them. What was happening was that Sunny was coming into the world two months early, whether they liked it or not.

Klaus got to hold Sunny before he was allowed to see his mother, and his first thought about her was that she was ugly. She was red, and scrunched, and wouldn't stop screaming, and Klaus instantly wanted to take her back. What he wanted even more, however, was to see his mom - but he wasn't allowed. She wasn't conscious, and the doctors were running tests and treatments.

Beatrice had hemorrhaged, and it was unsure if she would survive or not. After that, Klaus's dream moved in a blur - the first two weeks of Sunny's life were spent in intensive care, and Klaus remembered the day his father picked he and Violet up from the neighbors house to bring Mom and Sunny home. Everyone was okay. They arrived at the hospital and their mother was in a wheelchair, with the baby in her lap. She was smiling.

Klaus and Violet ran to her to hug her, and Violet kissed Sunny's little forehead, too. Klaus didn't look at her, because he didn't like her. She had almost taken his mother away, and she was loud and had taken all of the attention already and she wasn't even a month old yet.

"Mom still loves me," He said softly, just to himself, to remind him that just because he had a little sister now, it didn't mean his parents would love him any less. But then the doctor pushing his mother's wheelchair spoke, and Klaus jumped. This was no longer a memory.

"But she doesn't." The doctor said, and as soon as their eyes met Klaus knew the face.

Count Olaf.

"You're nothing, and neither are your sisters - you are awful, horrible children, but I won't allow that. I'll stop the terrible deed of bringing a terrible child into this world, and I'll stop it now."

And then Olaf had picked the tiny baby Sunny up by her head, holding it in only one hand, and she was screaming, fat tears streaming down her face as she tried to wiggle free. The screaming kept getting louder, louder, louder as Klaus jumped and reached to save the sister he didn't even want, because she was so tiny and so helpless that he _had_ to help her. But Olaf was relentless, smiling at Klaus as he held the baby higher and higher, and Sunny shrieked.

Klaus shot up in bed, expecting the screaming to stop. _It's okay, it was just a dream, everything is okay_ \- but the screaming didn't stop. It got _louder._

"Augh, shut the baby up!" Albert whined, pulling his pillow over his ears. Violet was groggily awake, but Klaus reached Sunny first. She was crying hard, so hard that her little body was now riddled with hiccups as she tossed and squirmed and thrashed about in her pillow fortress. Klaus reached down tentatively and patted her belly, and Sunny latched her fingers onto his hand instantly. She didn't quiet.

"Stoooppp!" Edgar cried from his bed, rolling around almost as much as Sunny. Klaus thought quickly and stood, picking Sunny up with him and hurried down the stairs and out the door. Sunny hadn't stopped crying.

"Shh, shh," Klaus cooed, still mostly asleep and panicky from his dreams. He bounced the baby on his shoulder and began to walk, just a few steps back and forth. She began to calm a little, kneading her tiny fists into Klaus's shoulder as her screams turned to sobs. Klaus heard the door creak open, and then a groggy, exhausted Violet was beside him. If he wasn't so sure that the crying had woken everyone on the block up, he would assume she was sleepwalking.

"'s okay, Sunny. Let me have her." Violet mumbled as she reached over for the baby. She was used to comforting and soothing and being there for her siblings; as the eldest, being the protector was her job. Klaus, on the other hand, knew nothing of comforting. He was angry often, or sad often, and in need of comforting himself. And so, he didn't know how to calm Sunny all the way, not in the slightest - but Violet looked in no way well enough to comfort right now, and so he kept his hold on his little sister.

"No, Vi, I got this." He said, softly putting a hand on hers. Sunny had stopped screaming and was only whimpering now, hiccups racking her little form and tears staining Klaus' pajama shirt. Violet wasn't awake enough to protest much.

"Are you sure?" She yawned, pushing her bangs out of her eyes. Klaus looked at Sunny, whose big brown eyes met his, and he nodded.

"Yes. We're okay."

Violet patted Klaus on the back and thanked him quietly before turning to go back inside. Once she was gone, Klaus looked down to Sunny again.

"What's wrong, Sun?" He inquired, and her little eyes filled once more with tears. She squirmed and wrapped her tiny arms as far around Klaus' neck as she could, and sobbed into his shoulder. The sobs were high pitched and babyish, but not near as loud as they had been. Klaus figured that she had had a bad dream, too. Sunny coughed, and sobbed a great big sob that sounded as if it hurt tremendously.

"M-mommy," Sunny choked out, grabbing Klaus' shirt and drawing the word out long before curling in on herself and sobbing more. It was one of the only words the baby knew, and hearing it made Klaus' heart clench.

Mommy.

Mommy was wonderful at offering comfort. So many terrible things had happened, and Klaus wished nothing more than that his mother was there with him him now, to calm little Sunny enough so that she would breath properly. She would rock Sunny, and bounce her, and kiss her soft, fine hair and whisper, "It's alright, baby-love, you're alright," and stay with her until she fell asleep and then some. She would hug Klaus and kiss Violet's forehead, and tell them that everything would work out. Gosh, Klaus missed her. His eyes were now tearful as well, and he he swallowed a sob and pursed his lips to stop himself from crying. It didn't work.

"I-I know, Sunny. I miss her, too," He stopped. Hugged his sister close. Ran his hand over her hair. Took a moment to find his voice. When he did, it was louder than he meant for it to be. "But mommy's not here anymore."

Not the right thing to say, he decided, when Sunny sobbed even louder, but he couldn't help himself. It was unreal, and not right, and confusing that his mother wasn't there. It was hard to believe, but saying it made it a little more real.

He had been avoiding saying it for weeks.

"Mommy's not here," He tried again, blinking away tears. He took a few breaths to calm himself, and gave Sunny a squeeze. "But that doesn't mean we're alone. She'll love you forever, Sunny, and will always be with us, no matter what happens."

Klaus didn't know if that was true, but it was what people kept telling him.

"Mother would come back from the dead as a ghost and roll her eyes at you right now for saying something so cheesy."

Klaus turned around quickly to see Violet, still clad in her nightgown, leaning on the doorframe and smiling. Her voice had a laugh in it, but Klaus saw tears sparkling in her eyes. Sunny looked to her and sniffled.

"Viiyit," She said, trying to say her sisters name. Violet smiled and walked forward, putting her arm around Klaus and Sunny and looking up to the sky.

"She'd say it was cheesy, but that it was true. And if it was ever not true, that it would be alright because we're together. We have each other no matter what."

The three stared at the stars for a while, until Sunny broke the silence to say she was hungry, and the siblings went back into the small house. Violet sneaked upstairs and dug around in the siblings' single bag and fished out a bottle that had been with them that day on Briny Beach, then came downstairs again and fixed Sunny a warmed bottle of milk, and her and Klaus each a glass. When they finished, Violet washed the dishes and Klaus put them away, and then he picked up Sunny (who had fallen asleep not halfway through her bottle, the teat of it now being held in her mouth by her teeth and the bottle lying on her tummy) and the three went quietly back to bed.

As Klaus lay there, he thought of what Violet said. He wasn't sure if he believed it was possible for his mother to be there with him anywhere but in their hearts, but he did know that wherever Violet was, Beatrice was, too. Violet would always take care of them, and when she couldn't, Klaus would, too. In that way, Beatrice would live on, even if she hadn't in the flesh.

Klaus fell asleep feeling safe, because their mother was all around them, keeping them together and keeping them safe, and comforting them when they cried.


End file.
